QUESTION

Cleaning Tumbled Stone - I recently had some of tumbled stone installed in my home, and the decorated border was completely unsuitable after grouting than the original border that looked great before grouted. None of the displays in the store show this result...which is cracks and dullness from grout inside of all of it...totally changed appearance to an old chipping look;; installer used sanded grout. How is this supposed to be installed for the original look before grouting and is their anything to remove grout to restore the look?

ANSWER

ANSWER - Tumbled stone comes in many different types of stone. Some stone is more porous and are unfilled types of stones such as travertine. People have different preferences on how they treat the stone. Some will intentionally grout it to give it an antique look that will vary depending on the color of grout selected. Others will seal the stone prior to grouting and go through the extra labor to keep it unfilled from the grout because they prefer that look.

Sounds like the later case is what you wanted. It would be very difficult to remove the Cement grout that is in the pores of the stone. The best way would be to sandblast, but that may not be practical in a furnished home. Acid will attach the cement to some degree, but may cause more harm to the stone and the surrounding material and may be prohibitive. I would test varies methods in out of the way corners and make sure you get the results you desire. Good Luck!